Arrangement for stepwise lifting of hoisting cranes preferably tower cranes



Sept. 1965 R. G. JOHANSSON ETAL 3,207,475 ARRANGEMENT FOR STEPWISELIFTING OF HOISTING CRANES PREFERABLY TOWER CRANES Filed Dec. 10, 1964 4Sheets-Sheet l FIG.2

FIG.1

/ Y an l INVENTORS ROLF GUSTOF JOHA M950 0 SVE/V-ER/K V/LHELM SVE/VSSO/VATTORNEYS S p 1, 6 R. c. JOHANSSON ETAL 3,207,475 ARRANGEMENT FORSTEPWISE LIFTING OF HOISTING I CRANES PREFERABLY TOWER CRANES 4Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 10, 1964 Few 1s 11 1s 1s ROLF ausmr JOHANSSO/VSl/EM-EF/K V/LHELM Sl/ENSSO/V IN VENTORS ATTORNEYS p 1955 R. G.JOHANSSON ETAL ARRANGEMENT FOR STEPWISE LIFTING OF HOISTING CRANESPREFERABLY TOWER CRANES Filed Dec. 10, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORSATTORNEYS l P 1965 R. G. JOHANSSON ETAL 3,207,475

ARRANGEMENT FOR STEPWISE LIFTING 0F HOISTING CRANES PREFERABLY TOWERCRANES Filed Dec. 10, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FlG.6

I/VVE/VTORS fiOL F GUSTOF JOHANSSO/V SI/f/VEfi/R V/LHELM SVE/VSSO/V f ATTOR/VEYS United States Patent 3,207,475 ARRANGEMENT FOR STEPWISELIFTING 0F HOISTING CRANES PREFERABLY TOWER CRANES Rolf GustafJohansson, Saltsjo-Duvnas, and Sven-Erik Vilhelm Svensson, Lidingo,Sweden, assignors to AB Byggforbattring, Stockholm, Sweden, a Swedishjointstock company Filed Dec. 10, 1964, Ser. No. 417,301 Claimspriority, application Sweden, Sept. 22, 1960, 9,043/ 60 Claims. (Cl.254-105) This application is a continuation-in-part of our applicationSerial No. 138,744 filed September 18, 1961,

now abandoned.

Building construction contractors are substantially concern-ed withtransport problems and their solutions. The

local transport at the building site is now assisted to an increasingextent by so-called tower cranes which, in spite of a great number ofdifferent designs, are all constructed on substantially the sameprinciple. They may, however, be divided into stationary, rail-bound andfreeoperating cranes.

This invention relates to operating equipment for cranes which are fixedin the horizontal plane and adapted to be lifted as the buildingconstruction progresses.

Cranes of the aforesaid type were heretofore lifted by means of cablewinches, either in the form of separate winches manufactured speciallyfor each individual crane type, or by means employed in combination withwinches associated with the crane. For carrying out lifting operations.by these devices which are often of complicated design, one must beaccurately familiar with their correct handling, which in most casesrequires specialists of the crane manufacturer.

It is the object of this invention to lift the cranes in a simplifiedand more reliable manner by employing devices which are novel for thisrange of uses. By employing jack-s of a type to progress a bar or rodtherethrough, the lifting forces are taken up by drawn rods instead ofby steel cables which from a safety point of view are less hazardous.Further, by use of hydraulics, the weight of the lifting equipment canbe reduced to a minimum, which is of special importance from the pointof view of handling and transport. In view of the considerably lowerpurchase price compared with cable winches, and further due to thesimple and reliable construction of the equipment which reduces thedemand of specialists for carrying out the crane lifting operations, thejacks can be those shown in applicants patent application Serial No.194,631, or that of Von Heidenstam, Patent No. 2,756,019, used ininvented position, or any similar device, and can be made part of thestandard equipment of each crane to a much greater extent than washeretofore possible with winches, thus rendering it possible to choosethe moment for lifting the cranes in a better and more economicalmanner.

An embodiment of the invention is shown on the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 shows a tower crane mounted in a building under construction, thelifting equipment being mounted for performing the lifting operation;

FIG. 2 shows the same tower crane lifted by one story; FIGS. 3 and 4show enlarged details of FIGS. 1 and 2;

'FIG. 5 shows a horizontal projection of FIG. 3; The lifting equipmentapplied in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1-5 is of the hydraulic type.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic sectional view of a jack that may be used.

Two load distribution beams 10 with their guide bars 3,207,475 PatentedSept. 21, 1965 9 are laid on the floor slab 1'1 and support-ed on blocks14 and inserts 15 against the hole edges of the slab 11. Upon the loaddistribution beams and at right angles to the same are laid two liftingbeams 8 on each side of the tower crane 1. Four jacks 2a and preferablyincluding four lowering jacks 2b are placed above ball joints 7 on thelifting beams 8.

The tower crane is provided at its lower end with a lifting yoke 12 fortaking the lifting force-s, to which the climbing rods 3 are secured toextend through the lifting jacks 2a (and lowering jacks 2b) and rods 3are provided at their lower end portions with lock nuts 13. The jackequipment includes stop-cocks 6 and 6 and connecting pipes 6a which areconnected to an oil pressure pump 5 via an oil line 4.

The jacks 2a are so constructed that they draw the rods 3 and therebythe tower crane by hydraulic pressure supplied to the jacks upwards to acertain new level. Upon returning the oil to the pump, the rods arelocked automatically by conventional locking or jambing means andprevented from moving downwards, The aforesaid upwards movement isusually called the lifting step. By repeated lifting steps which may becarried out by manually operated valves or by automatic means, the towercrane is lifted to the desired level, i.e., to the floor 1 1 where it isto be unloaded again by inserting the un loading .beams 16 below thelower end of the tower crane (FIG. 4). The crane is lowered onto theunloading beams 16 by the lowering jacks 2b which comprises merely apiston and cylinder means between the jack 2a and the jack support,which were lifted to their highest position and are now lowered byreturning the oil to the pump, whereby also the tower crane is loweredonto the beams 16.

The lifting equipment 2a and 2b is, in this position, entirely free ofthe tower crane load and can be lifted upward-s moving along rods 3 tothe next floor for another lifting operation.

The climbing jack 2a is constructed according to the climbing principleand comprises cylinder and piston means v17 and 18, respectively, andseparate sets of gripping members 19 and 20. The members 19, 20 may becogged wedge-jaws which can be moved relative to each other along thesmooth climbing rod 3 by hydraulic (or pneumatic) action within the jackbody. One set of the Wedge-jaws being mounted in the cylinder of thejack and the other in the piston. Normally jack-s of this type are usedso that the jack body climbs upwards on a fixed, or stationary rod, thejack itself transferring the lifting power directly to the object to belifted. .In the present invention, however, the jack 2a is mounted in afixed position, while the rod is movable upwardly through it. The oilpressure fed to the jack thus draws the climbing rod 3 upwards and liftsthe crane upwards a distance corresponding to the cylinder stroke(lifting step) of the ack. Oil pres-sure in cylinder .17 lifts piston18. Wedgejaws 19 grip the bar 3 and lift it. When the oil pressure frompump 5 is turned off, and the oil flow stops, the whole load will tendto sink downwardly, but this is automatically prevented as the liftingrod 3 is immediately locked by the wedge jaw members 20 of the jack,which are engaged against the rod by wedge action. A return pressurespring 21 in the jack forces the piston into the cylinder and thus alsothe oil is forced back to the tank of the pump 5. The piston is followedby its set of wedgejaws, which are automatically disengaged from theclimbing nod as the piston returns to the bottom of the cylinder. Whenthe piston has reached the bot-tom of the cylinder, the jack is again inits initial position for a new lifting step. The oil under pressure isagain manually or automatically permitted to flow into cylinder 17, andthe work cycle is repeated until the crane has been lifted to thedesired height. a

In cases, when the climbing jack 2a is not constructed for lowering therod 3 about 5 cm., a lowering jack 2b is applied directly'under' theclimbing jack 2a; The lowering jack 2b includes cylinder and pistonmeans 22 and 23 with the free ends of piston rods 24 engaging upperplanar surface 25 of the ball joint 7. In other words, the lowering jackis a simple hydraulic piston jack with the cylinder stroke of 5-10 cm.It has no gripping members at all, and the lifting rod 3 passes throughit quite freely. Its purpose is only to assist by the final unloading ofthe lifted crane on the joists concerned (11). During the lifting of thetower crane the lowering jack is in its bottom position and itsstop-cock 6' shut. When the climbing jacks 2a have lifted the towercrane to full height, their stop-cocks 6 are shut and the stop-cocks 6'of the lowering jacks. 2b are opened. By the oil pressure the loweringjacks 2b are now brought to lift a distance corresponding to thecylinder stroke and thus to raise the whole tower crane. Now thedischarging beams 16 are inserted through the lower part of the cranemast. By letting the oil out of the lowering jacks they will sink andthus the whole tower crane, until it rests on the discharging beams 16.

The lowering jacks 2b. may be left out in the cases when the climbingjacks 2a per se are constructed for a lowering of at least about 5 cm.They need not necessarily be of hydraulic type or the like, but may alsobe screws.

The lifting equipment is now quite free from the tower crane, and can bedismounted and moved to another tower crane. Lifting the jack by meansof a release cylinder 26 which extends downwardly past wedge-jaws 19 and20, and when lifted release cylinder 26 pulls wedgejaws 19 .and 20 outof engagement with their wedge surfaces so the entire jack structurewill move upwardly along rod 3 without .binding. Apertured lugs 27, 28may be provided as a safety measure to receive a padlock or the like toprevent inadvertent release of the wedge-jaws when the jack is in use.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes maybe made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scopethereof, and therefore the invention is not limit-ed by that which isshown in the drawings and described in the specification, but only asindicated in the appended claims.

What we claim is:

:1. Means for raising a tower crane vertically from floor to floor of abuilding or the like as it is being built, said means comprising alifting yoke adapted to support the lowest ortion of the crane tower, aplurality of rods extending upwardly from said yoke a distance greaterthan the distance from floor to floor of the building, a jack meansmounted on each said rod, support means adapted to be placed on thefloor of the building next above the said lifting yoke to receive andsupport said jacks, and means to operate all said jacks simultaneouslyto lift said rods, said jacks including jambing means to preventretrograde movement of said rods with respect to said jacks whereby saidjacks may be intermittently operated to lift said tower crane step bystep.

.2. The device of claim 1, in which said support means comprises beamsto distribute the load and includes guide means slidingly engaging thetower.

3. The device of claim 1, in which said jack means includes a hydraulicpiston and cylinder means.

4. The device of claim 1, in which additional means are provided betweensaid jack means and said support means whereby said j'ack means may beraised and lowered with respect to said support means.

'5. The. device of claim 4, in which said additional means comprisehydraulic cylinder .and piston means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 168,603 10/75'Blake 254--89 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,203,098 7/59 France.

.WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

1. MEANS FOR RAISING A TOWER CRANE VERTICALLY FROM FLOOR TO FLOOR OF ABUILDING OR THE LIKE AS IT IS BEING BUILT, SAID MEANS COMPRISING ALIFTING YOKE ADAPTED TO SUPPORT THE LOWEST PORTION OF THE CRANE TOWER, APLURALITY OF RODS EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM SAID YOKE A DISTANCE GREATERTHAN THE DISTANCE FROM FLOOR TO FLOOR OF THE BUILDING A JACK MEANSMOUNTED ON EACH SAID ROD, SUPPORT MEANS ADAPTED TO BE PLACED ON THEFLOOR OF THE BUILDING NEXT ABOVE THE SAID LIFTING YOKE TO RECEIVE ANDSUPPORT SAID JACKS, AND MEANS TO OPERATE ALL SAID JACKS SIMULTANEOUSLYTO LIFT SAID RODS, SAID JACKS INCLUDING JAMBING MEANS TO PREVENTRETROGRADE MOVEMENT OF SAID RODS WITH RESPECT TO SAID JACKS WHEREBY SAIDJACKS MAY BE INTERMITTENTLY OPERATED TO LIFT SAID TOWER CRANE STEP BYSTEP.